Theory - Objectivity and Values in Sociology Flashcards
What are the 4 perspectives on values in sociology?
- Positivism - value freedom
- Interpretivism - value freedom is impossible
- Committed sociology - value freedom is undesirable
- Postmodernism - relativism
What were Comte and Durkheim’s views on value freedom?
They believed in social facts (external realities that govern society) that can be discovered through the scientific method - objectivity and value freedom would then allow us to discover these objective truths with certainty. They were, however, committed to using sociological research for the benefit of society.
What was Marx’s view on value freedom?
Older Marx viewed himself as a scientist, discovering the course of history through different classes via objective analysis of history, allowing him to ‘accurately’ predict the course of the future to a classless communist society.
How does Weber differ from other early sociologists?
They see science as revealing facts that then show us the values we should hold (such as capitalism being exploitative = we should revolt) but Weber distinguishes between facts and value judgements with the former not being able to prove (or disprove) the latter, value judgements can only be made by individuals.
What was Weber’s view about the role of values in the process of research?
Staunchly opposed - for sociology to be legitimate, the process of collecting facts has to be seperate from values for hypothesis testing to valid.
What doe Weber argue is the role of values in sociology?
- A topic guide: the social reality is a ‘meaningless infinity’ (phenomenology) of facts that can’t be studied in totality, requiring the researcher to specifically study facts that have ‘value relevance’ to us
- Interpretation: sociologists’ values help to set facts in a theoretical framework to understand their importance, they need to be open about their perspectives so that people can judge bias
- Responsibility: sociologists have a moral duty to understand the harm their research may do and not hide behind words like ‘value freedom’, taking responsibility
How does Gouldner argue sociology has changed?
Gouldner (1975) argues that modern sociologists are no longer ‘problem makers’ (defining their own sociological problems) but are now ‘spiritless technicians’, ‘problem takers’ hiring themselves out to organisations to solve their problems.
What do modern positivists (Gouldner) say about value freedom?
Gouldner (1975) argues that sociologists make a ‘gentleman’s promise’ to not disagree with their paymasters too much when they’re hired - values are always there, will they be yours or your paymasters’? Additionally, value-freedom leaves sociologists directionless, selling their services to the highest bidder.
What is committed sociology?
The Sociologists like Myrdal (1969) argue that sociologists should not only spell out their own values, they should also openly ‘take sides’ - value freedom is ultimately impossible and undesirable.
What does Becker (1970) say about taking sides?
Becker argues that all sociology has values and takes sides, and that by pretending to be ‘objective’, sociologists simply take the side of the powerful - sociologists should take the side of the underdog, partly because less is known about them and by making them more public we can both increase the stock of knowledge in a big way and possibly make good change (such as with Humphrey’s Tea Room Trade).
How does Goffman (1968) relate to Becker (1970)?
Goffman argues that, to fully learn about groups like mental patients, sociologists must fully take their side over the psychiatrists.
How does Gouldner (1975) criticise Becker (1970)?
Gouldner argues that Becker is overly sentimental and roanticises disadvantaged groups, only being concerned with those ‘on their backs’ - taking a Marxist perspective, Gouldner argues that sociologists should side with those who are ‘fighting back’. Sociology should not confine itself to describing the viewpoint of the underdog, but actively ending their oppression.
How do sociologists’ perspectives influence them?
As Weber argues, perspectives like feminism and Marxism influence our choice of topic and our conclusions - however, they also influence our methods, Reinharz (1983) called structured interviews ‘research as rape’ and feminists generally disregard quantitative methods as based on and enforcing patriarchal values.
What is relativism?
Relativism has two core ideas:
- Different groups, cultures and individuals, including sociologists, have different views as to what is true (which all sociologists agree with)
- There is no independent way of judging whether any view is truer than any other, truth is true for the person who believes it (which most sociologists don’t go as far as)
How does postmodernism relate to relativism?
Postmodernists, like Lyotard, believe in a plurality of truths and reject the idea that there is one view that holds special access to the ‘objective’ truth, any perspective that claims to is just a ‘meta-narrative’.
Give two criticisms of postmodern relativism.
- If no one has special access to information about the world any theory that claims to is a ‘meta-narrative’, this applies to postmodernism which then equally shouldn’t be believed - relativism is self-defeating.
- Most sociologists do believe in some objective reality, Segal (1999) argues that poststructural feminism ignores reality like women doing more labour or men having higher domestic violence rates.
